The present invention relates to the microbial decontamination arts. It finds particular application in conjunction with the washing and sanitation of hospital equipment and will be described with particular reference thereto. However, it is to be appreciated that the present invention will find application in conjunction with the cleaning and decontamination of medical, surgical, industrial, and other equipment which is cleaned or decontaminated at a central area.
Typically, hospitals have one or more central decontamination and preparation and packaging areas. This area is typically in a dedicated clean room. One or more washers are built into the wall between the clean room and the exterior. Racks of soiled equipment are loaded into the washers through a first door on the exterior of the clean room. After the equipment has been washed, it is removed from the washer through a second door on the clean room side of the washer.
Within the clean room, the equipment is removed from the racks and prepared and packaged for reuse. Where appropriate, the items may be sterilized are wrapped in microbially impenetrable wraps as part of the preparation and packing process.
The empty racks exit the clean room through a rack return assembly. One popular prior art pass through assembly includes a vertical sliding window with a planar stainless steel countertop and shelf below it. An operator raises the window and locks it in the raised or open position. The operator then places one of the racks on the countertop below the window and slide it on to the shelf area outside the window. The operator would then release and close the window. One of the drawbacks of this prior pass-through assembly is that it required three discrete operations by the technician, i.e., opening the window, moving the rack through the window, and closing the window. Another drawback to this construction is that if the operator is not careful, the racks become skewed, striking the guides for the window. Moreover, the job of the attendant on the soiled side is more difficult when the racks were skewed or the cart for the racks is not accurately aligned with the shelf.
In another prior art pass-through, a pair of doors or windows are mounted to pivot about a vertical axis. The doors have wide metal frames surrounding small tempered glass windows. This construction suffers from many of the above-discussed drawbacks. The attendant opens the doors inward and latches them, slides the rack through and closes the doors.
The present application discloses a new and improved rack return assembly which overcomes the above-referenced drawbacks and others.